Everyone naturally looked at her, hoping she would say more. Before she did though, her stomach rumbled a little, making the baby in her hand giggle cutely.
"Ah, time to eat. It's already dinner time!" Harold said, leading them to the dining area. They focused on eating for a while. Although there were some light snacks during the meeting, they still missed their savory foods.
Anyway, the topic was put on hold until the elders finished their food. As soon as they finished, Winona leaned forward. "Tell me again how I'm not crazy."
Winona was particularly Antsy the whole time. She wanted to make sure she wasn't seeing things!
The curiosity killed her so much that when they went to greet Althea back in the Village Center, she was maybe a little half-tempted to throw Meatball to his mother to see whether he would float.
Of course, that was an intrusive thought that didn't win.
Althea didn't know the weird stuff going on in her best friend's head and just answered with a shrug. "There's not much to tell, truly," she said. "We don't know how it triggers either. It just happens."
The adults looked at each other and then to the little babies who were playing with their toys.
"We can only hope it won't put them in any danger."
The entire territory was allowed for a slow day that day. That was to say, working hours started a bit later than usual to allow the citizens some rest.
Some time after breakfast, the doorbell sounded, startling those inside. This doorbell—a new add-on made by Baron's party—was literally just a bell with a string system.
They partnered with Kimura from the Research lab to get the right process and tuning, and Althea's team happened to be one of the first houses to get this.
Harold and the others were a bit puzzled, wondering who it could be.
"Maybe Boss Garan has arrived?"
"He wouldn't need to use the door bell. Plus, it should still take a few more hours."
However, Althea was still the one to take a look anyway, just in case.
They opened the gate to see it was Oslo, but with a ton of guests. "Ms. Althea…" he said, with an awkward smile, "I'm so sorry to bother you, but we have guests who hope to discuss important business with you."
A lot of people looked at Oslo, a bit startled. Even his siblings who had seen him just couldn't get used to his humbleness. Even if it was a lord—if it was only a lord of a village—there was really no reason for Oslo to appear so humble. How could he act towards a mere village elder? A woman, at that?
Unless, there were really a lot of particularly special things about this beautiful woman that met the eye, and they couldn't help but give her a few extra looks.
She was very beautiful, yes, but what was most charming was her demeanor, stance, and aura.
At first, they thought the results of their investigation were exaggerations—after all, how could a woman get so much sincere admiration?
But, seeing that even the Gold's spoiled son admired her, then they knew much of it must be true.
Olga, in particular, wanted to be acquainted with this woman for a long time—and on a personal level. There were only a handful of women who made a name for themselves and, to be honest, Althea seemed to be the only woman she knew who triumphed over all the men in the territory.
There had been a few women in history who had gotten close, but their journey was fraught with a lifetime of conflict, unhappiness, and isolation.
Her mother even told her of a friend's story—a female lord, who was hunted down by her own people simply because they believed a woman should not be leading them!
At the time, her own husband was the very person who led the rebellion and killed her!
It was one of the reasons why she was so averse to marriage.
But this woman was so beloved by men and women alike. She might not be a lord, but her power was more than most in this territory. Contrary to those other women, she had a loving husband, a complete family, and such angelic babies!
Althea seemed to have noticed the intense stare and looked at the taller blonde, who flinched a bit and blushed, making Althea chuckle.
The others didn't seem to have noticed the interaction and simply headed inside as they were invited in.
As they entered, Oslo introduced the guests to her. "You already know my siblings," he said, before pointing at the new faces. "This is Lord Jonathan of Ferrol Town and these two are Kory and Ping, his two close friends and rich men from Ferrol."
In fact, Team B actually brought a lot of guests with them—some even from other towns. They were extremely curious about the territory, but no one dared to directly contact them after the Lord of Ferrol announced his interest in a partnership.
Fortunately, the locals assured them that Gaea would still likely partner with them, though the degree would depend on whatever agreement they would have with the Golds and Jonathan.
Ansel and Althea led their guests to the veranda, while Harold prepared the snacks and tea. Winona took care of the children and went to the neighbor's house to play.
Of course, Olga and her siblings didn't forget to say goodbye to Winona and cute-byebyes to the babies. The babies had become familiar with them the past few days, and they giggled showing off their cute gums… which now had bits of white.
No one really noticed this though and the babies went ahead to Lola and Yana's new playpen.
The aborigines entered the gates and they couldn't help but admire the gardens as well as the house a bit. "The villa is a little small compared to ours in the city, but this is so… comfy."
"I want to buy that villa in Luxury area"
"You have to be a permanent resident first."
"Even if we pay a lot more money?"
This made the guests' shoulders slump. "Hmn." After all, many of them lived in towns, while others owned a village. Becoming a permanent resident was definitely not an option, no matter how much they liked the place.
Still, internally, they couldn't help but complain a bit. So stingy!
However, after a few months, they would completely understand the territory's decision to gatekeep so much!